What is happneing to my chicks?

We hatched some chicks out about 3 weeks ago. They are very cute, it was a surprise package, 2 Light Sussex, 2 Buff Orpington, 3 Black Copper Marans. They were doing well under the brooder light in my husband's studio. For my birthday husband bought me a Brinsea incubator (early, to hatch eggs) as an added surprise he bought me 3 Jersey Giants (very cute) about the same age as the hatched chicks. Unfortunately they were put in together. One of the jersey Giants must have had an infection (coccidiosis?) and we found it on it's side with a bloody stool. We immediately seperated the chick, and it died the next morning. That was about a week ago. This morning there was a stool/poop with some blood on the floor as one or two of the chicks had been able to jump out of the brooder (a super large plastic box with shavings). We have started Cocid -V and an antibiotic. I have just read that a sulpha drug should be used with the Amprole..Does anyone know if the Tetracycline would work? What else should we be doing? We are cleaning the shavings twice or more a day.

The corid V should work, sometimes when it is brought in it takes a bit for signs to show in the other birds, but the increase Amprol you are giving them should kick in and start working. I do not think that Tetracycline will stop the Cocci but might help prevent secondary infections as they are getting over it. I have read to feed them yogurt as well during and for a week after treatments to help build up the natural bugs in the intestines again.

Oh boy, coccidiosis is a clear and present danger in all chicken yards. The problem is compounded by moist conditions. I would presume that you are having the very moist and wet spring that we are having here. Coccidiosis is everywhere and is much worse in warm and moist, as opposed to dry and hot, or wintertime when things are cold and frozen. There are many posts about this dreaded chick disease and you should read stuff to get a clear understanding of such. Basically, part of the issue is the birds' excrete, other birds peck at the ground, the oocysts (yes, called oocysts, where the cocci eggs are) are picked up by the other birds, ingested and the cycle begins. By the time you are seeing bloody stools, that is bad. The condition has been present and by this time is in advanced stage. I do not know a whole lot about this, but I know that bloody stools is just bad. I doubt that the bird brought there was the culprit, it was probably present already in your yard, it just progressed so. Possibly the bird brought the condition, but I would not totally blame it on that. I’m sure that others will chime in, perhaps my thoughts will be corroborated, perhaps not, but probably will. I am going to give you a couple of links to this disease, so you can read up about it.

Amprolium is the easiest drug to administer, it is 3-5 days on, if I am not mistaken, I would go 5 days personally. The sulfa meth is good too, but it is 2 days on the water drugs, four days off, 1 day on, four days off and then one day on again. A time consuming procedure, but this is how that drug works. Amprol is the easiest for surely. Remember, coccidiosis is everywhere, very similar to other illnesses, like marek’s disease.

https://wcps.canadian-forum.com/t1226-coccidiosis-needing-advice-and-feeling-a-little-emotional?highlight=coccidiosis

In this thread, please pay particular attention to post #5, Skeffling Lavender Farm, she has a good article on the disease. In my post, I had indicated my chicks had been on a two week program. Memory fails me and I have no clue why they were on a two week program, nor do I remember that that meant. I used amprol and it is only used for a few days. Anyways, please do some studying, it is a nasty thing and must be dealt with. Wishing you to keep the chin up and still have something to have an awesome day, CynthiaM.

Take him off the shavings . Maybe he ate some , and got crop impacted ,and died .

Shelan, this is not an impacted crop issue. There was clearly bloody feces, that is a clear sign of cecal coccidiosis, not anything to do with an impaction in the crop. Two totally different things. Blood in the feces is coccidiosis. Period. I hope that you can clear up the issue, but I am not too sure that once the bloody stool is seen, there is an awful lot of hope. The chick may survive, but that extreme damage has been done to the ceca, hence the blood. The chick may survive, as I said, but you will see stunted growth. Sorry to say this, but this is the nature of that beast, called coccidiosis. CynthiaM.

No problem , didn't read enough into the message .

shelan wrote:Take him off the shavings . Maybe he ate some , and got crop impacted ,and died .

I've never had an impacted crop from shaving, but had an impacted crop from hay and straw. It probably died from cocci

Thanks for all of the good advice and the articles. I have started the chicks on the meds, I hope it isn't too late but a hard lesson learned. Am giving them yogurt and they are liking it. I am sitting in the livingroom on my laptop and listening to their happy chirping. I am hoping for a miracle. I don't know what I was thinking, putting new chicks in with chicks that were fresh from the incubator. Luckily, the chicks are in the house, not near the adults. We are making sure that our hands are washed and the boots stay at the door so that we will not spread it any further. I pray for the little ones.